...or is imitation the sincerest form of Flaherty?
I once read an article by a designer, who shall remain (relatively) anonymous, railing against the use of clichés and platitudes, in a tedious screed designed to look like a dictionary of all the "overused" ideas to avoid. How interesting, I thought, to decry the fundamental building blocks of communication.
Whether as an out-and-out forger or as one simply taking advantage of shared meaning, I've often shamelessly strip-mined that past for a solution to an assignment. Herewith an collection of strangely familiar images.
In an amusing epilogue from our "practice what you preach" department comes the announcement of a brand new book by our totally original young designer which features a stunning typographic masterpiece composed entirely of pasta. Now, who would have ever thought of that?

Meanwhile, if something works one once, why not give it a second (or third) chance?

Sometimes a deadline just sneaks up on you. This one was for last Thursday but, by Tuesday I was still waiting for some direction from the client. The demographics and composition of the shopping center of the future just doesn't scream for an obvious solution, Then, in the gym locker room, between a session of Spinning and another of Aerobics, it hit me: The shape of a shopping center in 2020? A shopping center in the shape of 2020!
I dashed off a really quick sketch that evening, received a "the boys don't like that fon't" the next morning, made a slight adjustment and then started off to set a land speed record for doing an illustration from scratch in one day. By evening, I had amazed myself getting it done in grayscale. I surprised myself again Thursday morning by finishing the color in plenty of time for another brutal Spinning session. The "we love it!!!!" from the client gave me all the strength I needed to get through that one.

From quick sketch to font change to experimenting with tricky filters to a tight comp in one day.